From the moment we met, my best friend-- my soul sister and I, we felt like we'd known each other forever. We have a long running joke with her daughter about how we've only all been friends for a week. And quite a week it's been!

My friend is an exceptional baker. She'll deny that, I'm sure, but she rarely sees the brightness of her own light, so her humble denial wouldn't surprise me. "I'm making rainbow cookies for my daughter. Wanna help?" she'd text. "BRT," I'd reply. As long as my kids were settled and happy, I'd drop everything, and scurry across the street, often with a bottle of chardonnay in hand. It wasn't that she really needed help. I'm useless in the kitchen. And it wasn't really that I cared much about learning to make the rainbow cookies. They happen to be my favorite cookie - and her daughter's - but she and I both knew that we needed time together, and lots of it. The rainbow cookies, as delicious as they were, well, they were never really about the rainbow cookies at all.

Ever so lovingly, with her daughter, away at college, on her mind, my friend would measure her ingredients and begin the two-day rainbow cookie making process. We'd talk about a hundred million things, and laugh so hard we'd have to cross our legs. We'd cry, too, sometimes. For Christmases, we've baked. For Thanksgivings, too. For her daugher, we've baked. For her son, we've baked. We've baked and we've laughed and we've cried and we've shared.

Ever since our friendship began (last week and yet forever ago), I must have spent at least 500 hours in her kitchen, fascinated by how precisely she counts drops of food coloring, and lovingly smoothes the chocolate on top to perfection. (I'll never forget the time I took it upon myself to to make the cookies more vibrant, and added one extra drop of red food coloring. ONE drop. Let's just say my intention wasn't very well received. :) ) And so it was only fitting, last week (for real, last week) after our world was turned upside down with my friend's sudden illness, that her daughter had the idea to make my friend's signature dessert for the nurses who have been so instrumental in her care, and to surprise my friend, as well. I watched her daughter grow up that day. When her daughter asked my children and me to join her, needless to say, I told her we'd "BRT."

And so, my friend's daughter, and my children, and a friend, we came together, and we baked. And it was a beautiful, beautiful mess.

We studied the recipe.

Some observers were a little concerned.

We messed up a little.

We counted very carefully. ;)

Hmmm...Something's not quite right. :)

We baked.

We cleaned up thoroughly.

We waited...

..and waited!

The final product? Well...

The cookies were a little flat.

We used the wrong sized pans.

The cookies brightened my friend's day,

and she really did like them.

But they weren't the same.

They weren't that pretty, and I didn't get a photo of the finished product.

I'm not sure whether it's the golden sunlight, or the vibrant leaves, or the fact that all three of my children are finally in school, but Fall is quickly becoming my favorite season. There is no time of year that isn't perfect for a family photo shoot when the light is right, and the family is happy, and I've had the opportunity to capture this beautiful family with newborns, on birthdays, and yes, every fall as well.

These precious boys are so sweet, and lots of fun to spend time with, and I always have a blast because our shoots feel more like a playdate with a stroll through the park.